Like-minded Tea Party Republican conservatives end up living together, feeding their mutual anger and resentment about most social progress.

This reinforces and intensifies narrow-minded beliefs. House districts are gerrymandered by Republican legislatures to consist nearly entirely of such communities. This creates safe elections for the most radical, extreme and in almost all cases downright inarticulate and stupid Tea Party politicians. Shut down the federal government, harm many millions of Americans, refuse to raise the debt limit and throw the US economy into the toilet. All are just fine with this class of citizens and their favored politicians. This is the Stupid Revolution that accelerates the destruction of American democracy … //

… Conservative radicals are selfish, they are filled with fear about losing what they cherish and quite willing to sacrifice and throw overboard a large fraction of Americans whom they see as losers, wasters and cheaters. Screw them. The country, their country, would be so much better without them. These radicals are the makers; the losers they care not about are the takers, notably minorities and immigrants stealing their country.

I, too, want to see reduced federal spending. But the zealots on the right put far greater value on a eventual economic catastrophe resulting from extremely high federal debt—something possible in the future—while willing to ignore the economic pain today felt by so many Americans (but not likely by them) caused by a government shutdown and failure to raise the debt limit.

Norm Ornstein got today’s absolutist Republican behavior right: “an emotional, zealous reaction to America today—an ardent willingness to break crockery and demolish existing institutions to achieve the goal of eviscerating government as we know it, the good with the bad.”

What can be done to fix all this?

The core problem is the perversion of the electoral process by the design of House districts aimed solely at removing diversity of the population, an awful form of political segregation. The only purpose is to undermine democracy, to create political power, to create a revolutionary force in Congress because politicians no longer have to worry about losing elections. Incumbency is assured through mutually reinforced hate, meanness, prejudice. This is what is seen today. This is the driving force behind the Stupid Revolution. All of this is fed by right-wing talk radio and television idiots like Limbaugh that feed an unending stream of misinformation, disinformation and outrageous lies that are gobbled up by Americans living in splendid bubbles of intellectual isolation and bankruptcy.

There is only one potential solution. The Supreme Court must make highly gerrymandered, manipulated house districts by any party unconstitutional.

Learning to Fight: How Afghanistan Changed the German Military, on Spiegel Online International, by Christopher Alessi, October 15, 2013: In Afghanistan, dangerous combat has helped post-war Germany’s reluctant armed forces gain self-confidence and expertise. But with the public and politicians loath to enter into new conflicts, what will the military’s role be going forward?

Interview With George Soros: Greece Can Never Pay Back Its Debt, on Spiegel Online International, by Gregor Peter Schmitz in Brussels, October 07, 2013: Should Greece have a large part of its debt waived? Absolutely, says George Soros, otherwise the country will never recover. The billionaire investor also warns about the rise of extremist parties if Germany does not change its policies towards Europe …;